Kuranda Range Road - saved from becoming a Four-Lane-Highway

This
website has being created to provide you with more information on the
issues surrounding the planned Kuranda Range 4-Lane-Highway.
I also think that FNQ could really do with a group of people who lobby
our politicians for sustainable Transport, Energy and Planning
Solutions on behalf of future generations (please contact me if you would like to join this group).

I probably first heard about the planned Kuranda Range
"Upgrade" in 2004 through a concerned local community group. My first
reaction was: 'great, about time Main Roads does something about the
worsening traffic situation'.

Then in August 2004 I happened to visit a Main Roads display
stand in Fogarty Fountain park about the range road. That is when I
realised that this was no ordinary "upgrade" but a massive new
development. What really shocked me was watching the eyelevel virtual
drive DMR produced to give people an idea what driving the planned
4-Lane Highway would be like - it looked like a concrete walled racing
track to me. Interestingly, ever since DMR refuses to supply a copy or
show that eye-level virtual drive in public again.

This is a typical example of DMR's highly biased approach to
this proposed highway. Every possibly positive aspect of the highway is
exaggerated and repeated over and over again while any negative aspects
are ignored or hidden in a single sentence within hundreds of pages.

After
reading some of the many impact assessment reports and finding many
inconsistencies, a huge bias, many instances of misleading statements
and even factually wrong information, a group of us approached DMR and
state politicians with our concerns.

Their reaction was to spend more money to produce even more
misleading virtual images to make the project look better and to ignore
or brush over other concerns and any alternatives.

For years state politicians have refused to consider any
alternative options even though the projects budget has more than
doubled since the decision for the 4-lane highway was made and some
alternative options (like a well planned limited upgrade or rail with
drive on/off carriages)) have never even been considered. State
politicians have failed to objectively inform the public on the
available alternatives and the many significant negative impacts of
FNQ's largest ever infrastructure project.

State and local governments also ignore requests to remove the
dozen's of stinking Cairns rubbish trucks from the range road. This is
an indication of how little they care about the users of the Range Road
who have to drive behind those slow and sometimes putrid trucks.

Nor is there any commitment to use existing rail for commuting
from Gordonvale to Cairns, despite growing congestion on the southern
access roads and ever increasing fuel prices.

These are just two examples how a little bit of money can make a big difference to peoples daily lives.

Our society needs to take STEPS (Sustainable Transport, Energy
and Planning Solutions) to minimise, mitigate and avoid the effects of
climate change and peak oil and the sooner we take those steps, the
better. At stake could be the very survival of humanity and most life
forms on this planet, but at least the survival of most humans.
Unsustainable development in the past has destroyed much of the worlds
natural assets, plundered many of its natural resources and now
threatens to change the climate to such a degree that harvests are
likely to fail and large parts of the planet could become inhabitable
due to extreme weather. We can ignore this threat only if we do not
care about our children and future generations. Most Politicians seem
to care only about the next election, so we need to show them that we
will elect only those politicians who show that they care more about
our long-term future than their own short term one.

After long and hard campaigning this issue is a big win for our community group.

We were able to convince the state government that planning a tenthousand people suburb in this unique environment is contrary toAustralia's World Heritage obligations. This urbanisation was stoppedand with it the Four-Lane-Highway which quadrupled in costs since itwas approved.